The Greater Sin
by Jedi Carpet
Summary: Jacen returns home to Hapes to find a conspiracy against the throne...and Tenel Ka is at the heart of it.
1. A Normal Day

A/N: Surprise! I finished this one pretty quickly. It is short (14 356 words), but it helps bridge into the next one and the types of things I want to accomplish in this story are better done over a very compressed period of time. You'll see what I mean. I will warn you though, the first chapter or so starts out slow and this isn't a very action heavy story, but let's face the facts. Pretty much any Harry Potter novel sounds exactly the same and we all love those :) For those of you just tuning in, please take a look at my profile for the time line I've constructed over the last few years so you can see where it fits in.

Anyway, a while back after I finished writing OCD I had a little brainstorming session with a friend and we tried looking at all the ways we could make Jacen's life hell and incorporate it into a plausible story. We came up with 13 different plot points that could possibly be used (some were mutually exclusive), and I think I used 4 or 5 to make this. It's quite a bit more difficult than you might think. I've built him up into a pretty solid character – master of many aspects of the Force, second-to-few with the lightsaber, impervious to pain, strong friends. Hell, he even has a pet vornskr, his own commando team and is married to a queen. So, we decided that he had to be hit where he couldn't take the pain... I hope you enjoy it. And, I really hope you enjoy it enough to leave reviews :D

* * *

DP

Jacen Solo, Coruscanti male human Jedi Master, Prince of Hapes

Tenel Ka Chume'ta Djo, Hapan female human Queen of Hapes, Jedi Knight

Anakin Djo Solo, Hapan male human, son of Jacen and Tenel Ka (3 years old)

Allaya Djo Solo, Hapan female human, daughter of Jacen and Tenel Ka (1 year old)

HK-47 / Womprat, Humanoid Assassin Droid

Astro, Vornskr male, pet of Jacen Solo

Ta'a Chume, Hapan female human, former queen of Hapes

Eriana Fostenon, human female Jedi Knight/former Jensaari warrior, Black Vornskr leader

Jaina Solo, human female Jedi Knight, twin sister to Jacen

(Additions will be made at the top of chapters when appropriate as to not spoil anything)

* * *

His face lit up at the sight of her with a joyful smile that he reserved only for her. He snuck up behind her, put his hands over her eyes and whispered the words he had used many times before.

"Guess who?"

A slight smile lifted the corner of her mouth, the only outward sign that he might bring any sense of emotion into her life. And she did it perfectly, too. She stood up from her desk, turned around to face the man she called her husband and slipped her one hand around his neck looking deep into his brandy brown eyes.

"A certain Jedi Master back from a secret mission, perhaps?" She asked and kissed him. "Are the Black Vornskrs winning?"

"Who cares?" Jacen asked and lifted her into his arms, electing the slightest yelp of surprise from her. "I think we can find something more fun than work right now..."

He tossed her onto the bed and...

Tenel Ka had to look away. She buried her eyes into her knees and tears from her soft grey eyes began to stain the tattered and torn remnants of clothes that she wore. Her sobs echoed, amplified by the flat walls in the small metal room that had become her prison for over a week.

The night of her capture still flashed through her mind in vivid nightmares. One minute she was in her room watching her beautiful Allaya sleep, the next she was fighting for their lives. Shock troops in black armour entered the room from all sides, pouring in through the doors and windows, blasters firing, blue blasts of energy...

She distinctly remembered taking out two dozen commandos and being hit by at least three stun blasts before she went down. Even then she fought for consciousness with the tenacity only a Dathomirian Jedi or a Rancor could muster. They took her lightsaber and kicked her head. Then they took away her life.

The last thing she saw before waking up in the cell was a red-haired woman, a woman who looked just like her, picking up her child and commanding the guards to remove her. A prick of a needle in her neck sent her into oblivion.

She woke up in the cell some time later. Three walls had flat-panel displays showing images taken from around Fountain Palace, security camera images of her children and the imposter living her life. She was chained to the fourth wall. She did her best to ignore the images, holding onto the hope that Jacen would return. Jacen, the most insightful, loving Jedi she had ever known, would see through the ruse. He would sense she was not real, stop the imposter, protect their children, and rescue her.

But it was a false hope.

The chain around her neck drew taught and dragged her up against the wall. She scrambled to get her feet under herself so she would not be hanging by her neck, but for what reason she did not even know anymore. Sometimes her captors would pull all four chains tight to restrain her – the ones on her ankles, neck, and wrist – to talk to or torture her. But if they wanted her to see something, the neck was enough. All she could do was close her eyes against the offending images, doing her best to pretend they were not there.

"It seems your saviour has fallen for our ruse," the garbled voice of her captor boomed through the room.

Tempted by something somewhere between curiosity and desperate hope, Tenel Ka opened her eyes. The image of her husband and the imposter were blurred by her tears, but there was no mistaking their actions. Watching them did the one thing that no amount of physical pain could ever do to her – watching them...broke her heart.

* * *

Jacen woke early and slipped out of bed while his wife was still asleep. He made a quick round to check on Anakin and Allaya, stopping only to watch his children sleep peacefully for a few minutes. Their nannies smiled at him and bowed themselves out of the room at his entrance, probably a little more fearfully than he was used to sensing from a respectful servant. He made a mental note to ask Tenel Ka if any of the staff had caused an incident while he was away.

After satisfied that his kids were safe from any monsters hidden under their beds, Jacen returned to his ship, the _Solo Quest_, and lowered the boarding ramp to find his vornskr, Astro, bounding at him. Almost seven years old, Astro still had endless energy and enthusiasm and nearly knocked him over despite the fact that they had spent nearly two weeks together on their mission. He quickly changed into his workout clothes and together they set out for a run through the streets of Tenel Ka Chume'Dan.

The whole city of Tenel Ka Chume'Dan was a mere ten square kilometres, excluding Fountain Palace itself. Lit by the many street lights, six of the ten moons that were visible in the early morning sky, and the transitory mists, the white stone roads practically glowed under Jacen's feet as he raced his vornskr toward the ancient stone wall that ran along the outer perimeter of the old city. In a single bound each, Jedi and vornskr cleared the ten-metre distance from ground to the top of the wall, startling a guard in the process. Being familiar with the Jedi's eccentric training regime, the guard stopped himself short of shooting the crowned prince and resumed his route after sending a notification to the rest of the wall border patrol.

Leaping over guards and battlements alike, the pair ran in perfect harmony with the Force as their ally. As they ran, Jacen took note of the early-morning routine of the people of Chume'Dan bustling about to open stores and travelling to wherever they had to be before the sun rose. Some waved to their prince, and others did their best to ignore him, but most did not even notice as the Jedi Master went about his daily run. As Jacen and Astro reached their midpoint of the run, the giant gate directly opposite Fountain Palace, they scaled the three-tier gate in three Force-assisted bounds and stopped directly at the top with Jacen holding the lightning rod while Astro braced himself against his master's legs.

"You're slowing down, buddy," Jacen said, his own rather heavy breathing matching the vornskr's heaving sides. Astro looked up at him and whined as if to tell him he was not doing much better.

"It's hard to keep up while on missions," Jacen admitted, and pointed out over the horizon. "There it is."

Astro turned and looked just as the sun broke the horizon, spreading its brilliant golden light across the dark green forest that stretched from the great city wall to far beyond the edge of the visible world. Together they stood and watched as the sunlight crawled up the forest, over themselves, and illuminated the walls of Fountain Palace, slowly bringing brightness to the fortifications and reflecting the light of the many fountains across the top of Jacen's home. The light hit the top of the main central tower and reflected off the massive brilliant diamond at the top of the tower, spreading rainbows across the city in a cascade of colour.

"Time to go," Jacen said as the morning rainbows faded, but Astro was already a bound ahead of him. He leapt after his vornskr and dropped to the city wall with a well-timed roll and sprinted to catch up. Together they finished the second half of the city wall and returned in time for Jacen to take a shower before breakfast.

* * *

Jacen and Astro entered the Royal family dining chamber to find Tenel Ka and the kids sitting at the table surrounded by servants bringing food and drinks. Astro ran to his corner and ate his specially formulated meal with rampant gusto from a golden bowl slightly elevated from the floor on a golden wire frame while Jacen took his seat across from Tenel Ka. Jacen smiled and nodded his gratitude to the servants upon recognizing his post-workout breakfast of choice – scrambled marlello eggs, a protein shake, and a vegetable medley. While Jacen ate and Anakin threw his food around, Tenel Ka intently read the daily Hapan news reports that were compiled by a team of Royal advisors and analysts throughout the night. Any of the joy that they had shared the night before was carefully hidden behind her usual stoic mask.

"Anything exciting?" Jacen asked.

Tenel Ka looked up at him and raised one eye brow, as if to question if he truly wanted to know. She looked back at the datapad.

"Perhaps we have very different views on Hapan politics if you think there may be any form of excitement within these reports," she said. "But my grandmother has asked us to dinner tonight."

"Do we have to? I just got back," Jacen said. The look and raised eyebrow returned to glare at him from across the table. "Not that I'm ungrateful, but I was thinking you and I could spend some time together. Maybe a picnic in the great forest, like...back on Yavin IV."

"That would be...enjoyable," Tenel Ka said, using the Force to narrowly deflect a stray spoonful of egg thrown at her by a giggling Anakin. "But I have already confirmed with her. Shall I cancel? Most of my family will be in attendance."

"No." Jacen shoveled a forkful of egg into his mouth to avoid any further expression of his mind. He tried to not let his selfish disappointment show, but he knew she could sense it in the Force anyway.

"Perhaps tomorrow night we can arrange our picnic," Tenel Ka said, giving him a rare slight-smile. "I have arbitration this morning I must depart for."

Jacen smiled back and nodded, taking another bite from his eggs. Tenel Ka stood up and leaned over to kiss Allaya on the head when a loud bark and flash of grey caught Jacen off guard. Tenel Ka jumped back about three metres as Astro jumped over the table and landed between her and Allaya, growling with hackles raised. The servants scattered and Jacen jumped to his feet to pull the startled and crying Allaya away from his vornskr. He handed her to a servant and positioned himself between him and his youngest.

"Astro, disengage!" Jacen shouted, emphasizing his command with the Force. Astro merely took a step towards Tenel Ka and barked.

"I said stop!" Jacen shouted again, pushing harder with the Force, but Astro shrugged his command off. Anakin began crying and Tenel Ka drew her rancor-tooth lightsaber.

"Jacen, you promised me he was safe," Tenel Ka said, not taking her eyes off Astro.

Jacen finally reached out with the Force and lifted Astro into the air. A second later Astro broke his hold, landed, and lunged at Tenel Ka. Her own telekinetic blast sent the vornskr sliding across the floor and Jacen scooped him up again, this time with a much stronger grip.

"I don't know what's gotten into him," Jacen said. "I'll lock him in my ship. Are you okay with the kids?"

"Yes," Tenel Ka said. "Go."

Astro barked viciously and scratched frantically at the air, but could not break his master's telekinetic hold this time. Jacen departed with Astro and took the most direct route back to his ship. He did not drop Astro until they were sealed in the cargo bay, at which point Astro laid on the ground, put his head between his paws and whimpered, looking up at him with sad eyes.

"What has gotten into you?" Jacen demanded. "How many times do I have to tell you? We don't eat family!"

Astro let out a pitiful, desperate bark and sent an image through their empathic connection. Jacen eyed him suspiciously and slowly backed out of the cargo bay. As the door closed, vornskr and master kept their eyes locked together, and Jacen made sure to lock the cargo bay down with the master control code. He sensed a presence approaching him, nearly-silent servomotors creating only a slight whine that his ears barely picked up in the otherwise silent ship.

"Don't let him out of there, HK," Jacen ordered quietly, eyes on the video screen that showed Astro still staring at the door. "Something's wrong with him."

"Query: May I inquire as to the nature of the furbag's malfunction?"

Jacen turned to look at his droid, worry written all over his face.

"He tried attacking Tenel Ka," Jacen said. "He overrode my empathic commands, and even broke through my telekinesis. I didn't even know he could do that."

"Intrigued comment: That is most peculiar behaviour," HK-47 stated, his red eyes flashing brighter with each syllable. "Did you inquire the reason?"

"Translating a vornskr's thoughts and feelings into words isn't easy." Jacen looked back at the video screen. "But if I could, I think he said that Tenel Ka is..._wrong_."

* * *

Arbitration generally lasted for the full morning and Tenel Ka had mid-day meal scheduled with a dignitary from Sennex, leaving Jacen to entertain the kids after breakfast. Since Anakin was reaching almost three years old, he decided it was time to start teaching him the ways of the Force. Like how Luke had done for Jacen and his siblings, Jacen had reduced Anakin's ability to access the Force to prevent him from causing too much damage with Force-aided temper tantrums but left enough of a connection for him to begin lessons.

He held Allaya in one arm and a ball in the other, looking down at his son who was sitting cross legged on the ground. "Anakin, I want to play a game of catch," Jacen said rather formally.

"Yay!" Anakin shouted and jumped to his feet. Jacen threw the ball and Anakin caught it in his hands.

"Okay, throw it back."

Anakin brought the ball far behind his head, arched back and...let it go too late. The ball bounced off the floor and rocketed towards Jacen's head, but he caught it with his free hand before it could hit sleeping Allaya.

"Easy there!" Jacen said with a laugh and tossed the ball back. "Throw it at me this time, not the ground."

Anakin repeated his throw, this time releasing at the right time to send the ball at Jacen's knees – a bit of an improvement. Jacen caught the ball with the Force and returned it without touching it. Anakin caught the ball, slightly amazed at what his dad did.

"This time," Jacen said, "you're going to catch it with your eyes closed."

"Nooo," Anakin drawled. "Can't."

"I can!" Jacen said enthusiastically and shut his eyes. "Here, throw it at me."

Anakin threw the ball as hard as he could at his dad's head, but Jacen scooped it out of the air easily to return it to Anakin.

"You peeked!" Anakin said.

"I'll turn around this time," Jacen replied and turned his back to his son. "Go ahead!"

The ball, thrown at Jacen's back, was easily caught and returned in a quick pirouette that was far too fast for Allaya's liking. She woke up crying.

"Daddy make Ayaya cwy!" Anakin giggled. "Mommy gonna be mad at you!"

Jacen laughed and bounced Allaya until she went back to sleep.

"Your turn now," Jacen said. He pulled the ball out of Anakin's hands with the Force and crouched down. "Close your eyes."

Anakin closed his eyes dutifully and waited.

"Where is the ball?" Jacen asked. "Point to it."

Anakin pointed right at Jacen's head, about a third of a metre away from the ball.

"Nope," Jacen said and moved the ball out to the right. "Where is it now?"

"Dare!" Anakin pointed to Jacen's left.

_This is going to be a long day_. Jacen sighed.

After two hours, Anakin was finally able to locate the ball with his eyes closed, catch it with his eyes closed, and, amazingly, catch it with just the Force and hold it in the air for as long as it took for him to realize he did it and burst into persistent giggles. Together Jacen and Anakin played catch, passing the ball back and forth without touching it until Anakin stopped giggling from that and found a new thing to giggle at when he began using the Force to throw every toy he could find at his dad until Jacen was dancing and hopping out of the way of the plush and plastic projectiles. They took time off for mid-day meal, but Anakin's fun did not stop. During the walk back to the family dining area, and throughout their meal, Anakin used the Force to push and pull anything he could see. Likewise, Jacen had to anticipate what Anakin was doing and react – pulling and pushing anything Anakin moved to prevent it from being broken. While it was a small source of potential heart attacks for the cleaning staff, it proved a great exercise in fine Force control for both father and son.

* * *

Dinner with Ta'a Chume had been as eventful as watching paint dry as far as Jacen was concerned. Some aspects of being royalty could hardly be ignored, like servants removing plates the second they became empty and offering a fresh plate, dining in a massive hall with every available family member in their best attire, and the formalities of talking to everyone as if solar rays were radiating from their every orifice. Others aspects, like having to arrive in a horse-drawn carriage and being photographed by far too many people with nothing better to do with their lives, eating way too much obscenely rich food, and not being able to wear comfortable clothes, Jacen could do without.

"I guess I take after my dad," Jacen said to Tenel Ka as they finally reached the safety of being kilometres away from the media in their carriage. He pulled on the collar of his shirt and popped the top button to give himself more breathing space. "That dinner was an absolute fiasco."

"At least this time it wasn't your fault," Tenel Ka said. She held baby Allaya on her lap and hugged her close, watching as her tiny nostrils flared from her sleepy breathing. Anakin rested in his child seat on the other side of the carriage, already sleeping soundly.

"You have to admit," Jacen said, barely stifling his laughter. "Watching Allaya throw up _all_ over Ta'a Chume's gown was priceless."

"Perhaps one of her best moments yet," Tenel Ka agreed. "She certainly is your daughter."

As soon as she said the words, she knew they were the wrong thing to say. Jacen's eyes closed and a pained look came across his face.

"Stop it!" Tenel Ka insisted. "It is not your fault she is unable to touch the Force. We do not even know if your injury was the reason why."

"_One_ Force sensitive parent is enough to pass sensitivity on to the child," Jacen said angrily. "My entire family is evidence of that. With two, it should be guaranteed. Obviously something went wrong, and my inability to touch the Force was the only thing wrong with either of us at the time. I was hoping she would heal like I did, but obviously that isn't happening."

"Allaya is beautiful and healthy," Tenel Ka said with uncharacteristic warmth. "The Force does not make us a family."

Jacen finally smiled and leaned forward to kiss her, lingering with their lips together for several long seconds before pulling away. "Sometimes it's hard to let go of your dreams."

"Yes," Tenel Ka said with a twinge of pain. "It is."


	2. Oddities

JDR: Any questions I don't answer now will be addressed in time :) In terms of how TK could be swapped out...she's one of the very few Jedi who actually could be replaced! She hardly uses the Force unless when necessary because of her stubborn independence and she's very reserved emotionally. Someone with marginal Force ability and good control over her emotions that looks just like her and acts just like her could theoretically pull it off. As for the morning run, I figured TK would hold her own exercise program so they could take turns watching the kids. Not so much for childcare purposes, but more protection from assassins. As for Astro, he has been trained to protect the kids, and, being a vornskr, uses the Force for most of his sensory input. He sensed something was off with Tenel Ka, not that the kids were in danger. Until he sensed TK approach Allaya he had no need to assess her. There was food to be eaten, y'know... ;) My intent with Allaya is for her to be no more Force-sensitive than Han. At the start of the story Jacen is returning from a quick mission that Eriana requested him to do. Let's call it an espionage mission on a suspected minion of Krayt's on Mon Calamari. This story is about half a year after OCD, so it wasn't that mission. While he was away doing that, they swapped Tenel Ka out.

Onimi, Sioux, thanks for the reviews. I should watch GoT some time. Astro will redeem himself, for sure. And I just realized that I've never written something with Tenel Ka as a main character. Hmm...

On a side note, last weekend I met Jeremy Bulloch and David Prowse. Mr Bulloch was incredibly nice, his first words to me were "Welcome to the Dark Side" in his soft British accent. I got his signature on the picture that he said was the first one ever taken of Boba Fett by a really mean photographer that worked on the set of Star Wars. Mr Prowse was on crutches and looked like he may have had hip surgery or something, but he was quite nice, too. I got a signed picture of him and Alec Guinness (obviously as Vader and Obi-Wan) sparring in the Death Star.

EDIT: Special thanks to Sioux who helped me with a glaring error on my knowledge of communication encryptions :)

* * *

Jacen's usual morning run, this time without Astro, was followed by a typical morning meal where the Djo Solo family ate while Tenel Ka reviewed her newsfeed. Very little of consequence occupied the report, namely some squabbling governors on Gallinore, Synergy Technology was launching a new revolutionary handheld device that would bring faster holonet access to beings across the galaxy from the palm of their hand, and bounties on known Jedi had been increased by a vote of the Galactic Alliance Senate. For Jacen, morning meal was followed by some play time with Anakin while Tenel Ka addressed her queenly duties. They spent hours after breakfast tossing a ball back and forth with the Force, eventually progressing to using blindfolds and two balls at a time before a chirp on Jacen's communicator interrupted their play. Jacen left the kids with their nanny and ran to the _Solo Quest_ to take the call.

"You're gettin' old, Solo," Eriana said. "You look out of breath."

"Was playing with Anakin," Jacen said, drawing on the Force to catch his breath. "He's doing well with some of the exercises."

"Don't worry, Aunty Eriana won't give him a lightsaber until his daddy says he can have one," Eriana said. "That should be about another week, right?"

"Yeah, about that," Jacen laughed. "What's up?"

"We have some interesting activity going on at some of the border planets along the...Is this line secured?"

"Yeah, it should be," Jacen said, double checking the panel. He pulled out a UV light from a compartment above his head and passed it over the console where he had sprayed a compound otherwise invisible to human eyes. Instead of the smooth coating he expected to see, fingerprints marked the layer of compound around the encryption card. "Someone has pulled my encryption card. You'd better toss this code."

"I'm cutting the connection. Call me from a secure line with your secondary."

With that, Eriana's face disappeared. Jacen spent the next ten minutes examining the encryption card and the communication module. Indeed, the module had been tampered with, rigged to transmit a secondary unencrypted transmission with minimal power. Also, an analysis of the encryption card indicated that it had been copied by someone with very limited computer skill.

_Who could have gotten into the ship to do this?_ Jacen sat back in the chair and looked at the communication panel thoughtfully. _And the better question is, why would anyone on Hapes do this?_

He got up and went to his quarters where he opened the secure lockbox in the floor where he kept his collection of Holocrons. On top if it, where he had left it, was his secondary encryption card. He removed it, put it in his pocket, and resealed the lockbox. On his way out of the ship, he stopped at the cargo bay door and saw Astro curled up in a ball on the far side. He opened the door and quickly sealed it behind him, barely catching the vornskr as it tried to tackle him to the ground and lick his face off.

"Stop! Stop!" Jacen laughed, trying to suppress Astro's aggressive affection. "Down, boy! Down!"

Astro finally calmed down enough to keep all four paws on the ground, but still wagged his tail enthusiastically and ran circles around Jacen. His strong tail beat against Jacen's legs, nearly collapsing his knees more than once.

Jacen tossed a ball around the cargo bay with Astro to help his vornskr wear off some excess energy from being cooped up, and eventually he was tired out enough that he sat down beside Jacen and let his master scratch his ears.

"So, anything exciting going on in here?" Jacen asked with some measure of sarcasm. To his surprise, Astro stood up and pointed his nose at the door with one paw raised. Jacen noticed the normally brushed durasteel steel wall panel had surface scratches that were obviously made by a vornskr.

"Astro!" Jacen exclaimed. The vornskr did not even seem bothered, but started to whine as if he wanted his master to notice something. "I know, I know. But you almost attacked Tenel Ka. What would you have me do?"

Astro walked up to Jacen, put a paw on his shoulder and stared him in the eyes, whimpering insistently. Jacen reached out with the Force to see what Astro was trying to tell him. A blurry image of paws scratching on the paneling, Astro barking, and...the sound of footsteps on the deck plating.

"That was just HK-47," Jacen reached up to scratch Astro's ears to calm him down, but a bark and another more insistent whine made Jacen re-establish the connection. This time Jacen noticed something else – Astro had _sensed_ the intruder.

"You're _sure_." Jacen asked and received a vornskr-sized tongue across the face. "Ugh! Man, watch it! My mouth was open! Yeah, yeah, I get it. You're sure."

~! #$%^&*()

Jacen joined his family for mid-day meal in their usual dining area and sat across from Tenel Ka, as usual. He put his order in with the servant and filled his own glass with water from the pitcher on the table.

"Have you noticed the holonet is down?" Jacen asked. "I was trying to call Eriana but the connection wouldn't establish."

"We're upgrading the palace servers," Tenel Ka said. "Can you not call from the _Solo Quest_?"

"My communication module got hacked," Jacen said. "Someone broke into my ship and stole my encryption codes. HK-47 said it would take a few days to reconfigure the communication suite back to normal. Whoever messed with it damaged a lot of the encryption software."

"Your ship is impenetrable," Tenel Ka said and took a bite from her nerf sausage.

"We're the only two with access," Jacen agreed. The servant arrived with his food and he began cutting up his nerf steak. "Unless one of us forgot to lock it."

The family sat in relative silence for a few minutes as they pondered the situation and ate. Or threw food at their sister and giggled, as in the case of Anakin. Jacen seriously considered getting a transparisteel shield for Allaya so she could enjoy her bottle without having half of Anakin's meal thrown at her, but resided to using the Force for now.

"Have you increased security?" Jacen broke the awkward silence. "I got the feeling I was being followed by a pair of guards earlier."

"Yes, I thought it would be best if we had a security detail close at hand," Tenel Ka said. "Forgive me, but I want my family to be safe."

Jacen nodded and speared another chunk of nerf with his fork. While he sensed some truth in her words, he knew the last words she had spoken were a lie.

~! #$%^&*()

"You asked for me?" Tenel Ka's soft voice came from the door to Jacen's office. She looked over his shoulder and noticed his computer terminal read "Holonet connection down" in bold letters across the screen. Allaya was sleeping in his arms, and Anakin was playing with a toy X-wing in the corner, throwing it at the filing cabinet and giggling as it bounced back at him.

"How much longer is this going to take?" Jacen asked. "I need to call Eriana. I can sense it is important."

"The technicians told me..."

"I called them myself," Jacen said angrily and stood up to face her. "There is no upgrade going on. It took a mind trick to force them to admit that they were under your orders to kill the palace holonet connection. I also found your fingerprints - only one hand's worth - on the communication panel in the _Solo Quest_ and pulled some security footage of you entering my ship at the same time those logs were last accessed. Whoever you are, your fingerprints are pretty damn close, but not a match for my wife's."

Jacen fixed her with an angry glare and looked her right in the eye, noting with a heavy heart the shocked expression on her face.

"Who the hell are you, and what have you done with my wife?"

Anakin looked up with wide eyes, never having heard such a tone from his dad, but remained silent as his parents stared at each other. Tenel Ka finally reached up and touched her ear, saying two words that struck Jacen to the core.

"He knows."

Five seconds later ten guards in full combat gear entered his office with Ta'a Chume in tow, blasters pointed at Jacen.

"Stupid Jedi," Ta'a Chume spat at him. "Too observant for your own good."

"I should've caught on sooner," Jacen replied. "Where's Tenel Ka?"

"Locked up somewhere where you won't find her," Ta'a Chume replied, putting her arms on the imposter's shoulders. "Not before I make sure the only thing you find is her corpse, that is. If you kill me or her clone, she dies. You will do exactly as we tell you, or she dies. And once we're done, you can have her back and those pitiful Jedi children of yours. I will no longer let the taint of the Jedi spoil the legacy of the Hapan Empire."

"_Where is she?_" Jacen shouted. Allaya and Anakin began to cry from his outburst, but he ignored them. He grabbed Ta'a Chume by the neck using the Force and began to squeeze. "Tell me, _now!_"

"And...risk...you foiling my...plan?" Ta'a Chume choked out. She pulled her sleeve up to show off a heart monitor attached to her wrist. "Kill me...she dies."

Jacen reluctantly threw her to the ground and stared daggers at the imposter. "What do you want me to do?"

"Just be a good obedient husband," the imposter said. "In three days this will all be over. Give nobody any reason to suspect something is wrong and you'll get her back."

"What are you planning?"

"You don't need to know," Ta'a Chume sneered, getting back on her feet. "And don't think we won't kill you, too."

"I'd like to see you try," Jacen sneered back.

"You or your kids, it doesn't matter," Ta'a Chume said. "There are more ways than one to ruin your life. We're done here."

Ta'a Chume and the guards disappeared, leaving Jacen with two wailing children and the imposter of his wife.

"I'm sorry," the imposter said with sadness that looked out of place in Tenel Ka's grey eyes. "I'm as much a victim as you are."

She retreated out the door leaving Jacen with the ugly feeling that she was finally telling him the truth.

~! #$%^&*()

"Come to bed," the imposter said to Jacen.

"No."

Jacen crossed his arms and leaned back in the plush chair, trying his best to ignore the clone of his wife standing at the doorway. As comfortable as the chair was, it did nothing to comfort the anger he held against her and his grandmother-in-law. After learning about being deceived, he vowed not to let his kids out of his protection. Watching them sleeping peacefully, oblivious to the danger they were in, was the only thing that kept his anger in check.

"People will suspect something is wrong if we stop sleeping together."

"You mean like the security details that are _in on it_?" Jacen snapped. "Go to bed before you wake the kids."

"Most of the staff and guards are only following orders. They don't know what is happening."

"I don't really care who is in on it or not," Jacen said. "Leave me alone."

"You can't stay there forever. You need to sleep some time."

"You don't know me."

The imposter stood at the doorway for another minute in silence before finally retreating. Jacen could sense guards down the hall – more likely keeping an eye on him than protecting him – and shook his head.

Tenel Ka imprisoned somewhere. Holonet down. The sanctuary of the _Solo Quest_ violated. Astro locked up. HK-47 would likely be under close supervision as well.

Jacen took a deep breath and began meditating. If he could not fight back directly, he had to find a way to weaken his enemies.


	3. Compromises

DP addendum: The Imposter (fancy name, eh?) – Clone of Tenel Ka TC Djo

A/N: Big thanks to **SiouxFan** for his help on explaining some of the realities of radio operations. I've modified the last chapter to make it a bit more realistic (I hope!) and added a bit more to Jacen's detective work in determining the situation.

To all of you, thanks, and I hope you enjoy this one. It's the longest entry and will answer a lot of questions. We're at the half way point, and you'll start to see some of Jacen's darker side poke through :)

Onimi...you nailed it.

* * *

Jacen Solo did not go for his morning run. He also did not enter the private dining area to meet his family for breakfast. Instead, the imposter came into the private dining area for morning meal to find _him_ with the kids. Food was thrown about the table and covered most of Anakin's happy face as was normal for the end of breakfast. Jacen was standing above Anakin disconnecting the safety belt on the high chair when she walked up to him.

"What is going on?" She asked. "We eat morning meal together every morning."

"No," Jacen replied angrily. "_My family_ eats morning meal together every morning. I don't know who you are, but you're not part of it."

She grabbed his arm before he could lift Anakin from his chair and pulled him a couple steps away.

"You need to do a better job of pretending I'm your wife, or your wife _will_ die. Think what you want of me, but I don't want to see anyone get hurt. This will all be over much sooner and much less painfully if you just play along."

A pair of servants came in at that moment cutting off Jacen's reply, but with his back to the servants the imposter was not spared his venomous glare. The servants began cleaning the table, ignoring their queen and prince as they slipped back into their 'normal' roles.

"I'm going to take Anakin to see Astro," Jacen said. "He misses his friend. I may as well take Allaya, too, so he can become more familiar with her."

"That vornskr tried to kill me," the imposter said. "I don't want it anywhere near my kids."

_Whenever you have your own kids, you can do whatever the hell you want,_ Jacen sent to her through the Force. Aloud, he said, "He's quite fond of the kids. Familiarity will help him accept them as part of his pack, and I'll keep everyone safe. I can still control him."

"Up! Up! Up!" Anakin began chanting from his high chair, bouncing as far up and down as he could with his arms held high. "Wanna see Astwo!"

The imposter yawned, giving Jacen the chance to step away and pull Anakin out of the chair and up against his hip.

"First you need a bath to get all the food off," Jacen said. "Astro might lick your face off if you don't."

"No!" Anakin squealed and covered his face with his hands, getting food all over them. "No bath!"

"What if Daddy lets you play in the fountain?" Jacen whispered just loud enough for the imposter to hear, hazarding a glance at her. She glared at him with a nasty face full of hatred, knowing full well he was trying to undermine Ta'a Chume at any opportunity, but she quickly replaced it with her stoic 'Tenel Ka' mask. She looked away for a moment to yawn again, which triggered a yawn in each of the two servants who had been watching them after Jacen's suggestion.

"Sleep well?" Jacen asked sarcastically, using the Force to pull Allaya out of her seat and take her in his other arm as Anakin began smearing his jelly covered fingers against Jacen's face. He did not even pretend to notice.

"Not a wink," the imposter said. "Something was keeping me up."

"Us, too, m'lady," one of the servants, Tresa, said. "It seems nobody in the entire city slept last night."

Both servants chose that moment to take away the dishes they had collected and the imposter turned back to Jacen.

"You!"

"Me," Jacen said smugly. "If I can't sleep, nobody will."

"How?"

"I know you've learned a few things in the Force, enough to pass off as Tenel Ka at first glance," Jacen sneered and started for the door. "But you are nowhere near the Jedi I am."

~! #$%^&*()

After a quick bath in the main fountain in the middle of the royal audience chamber for Anakin, Jacen changed his son into fresh clothes, scrubbed the last remains of the roseberry jam off his face, and retreated to the _Solo Quest_. The whole time two guards followed him, not even pretending to mask their presence as they kept a close eye on him. It took him doing a Force-assisted leap onto the top of the ship and entering through the dorsal hatch to evade them.

Once inside the ship, Jacen left Anakin with Astro and kept his sleeping daughter in his arms. He found HK-47 in the engine maintenance area accessing the main data terminal for the ship.

"HK, I need you to drop what you're doing and make a recording on a datacard as fast as possible. The guards are going to start hammering the door down very quickly."

"Inquiry: What does the master want on his datacard?"

"Tenel Ka is captured and is somewhere in the Hapes Cluster. She'll be killed if I don't go along with Ta'a Chume's plan. The Tenel Ka on the throne is a clone. Her Force signature is damn near identical to Tenel Ka's, too. I'll protect the kids, but someone needs to find Tenel Ka. Communication encryption codes have been stolen; I need new ones and a new communication encryption module for the _Solo Quest_ as soon as possible."

Three seconds later a data card popped out of the console and the droid handed it to him.

"Here, take her," Jacen handed Allaya to HK-47 and pulled off his boot. He stuffed the data card in the toe like he had done with many valuable objects in his youth and put it back on his foot. An aggressive pounding on the boarding ramp caught his attention.

"Come with me, and listen very carefully," Jacen said. He took Allaya back and, while giving HK-47 some instructions, he walked to the ramp. He held up a finger to indicate silence and hit the intercom button.

"Yes? How can I help you?"

"Prince Jacen, this is Hedy, your guard," a gruff female voice said. "We need to watch you at all times. Please open this ramp immediately and exit the ship."

Jacen gestured for HK-47 to quietly disappear and hit the button again.

"I'm having some family time here," Jacen said. "Unless you wanted to help change a diaper or play fetch with a full grown vornskr, you might find it a little tiresome."

"I'll happily change diapers," Hedi said miserably. "Open up."

Jacen sent a command to Astro and counted to five before opening the ramp. As the guards began charging up the ramp, he held his hand out and stopped the guards with a telekinetic wall.

"This ship is my home," Jacen said. "I will not have you intrude on my sanctuary."

Hedy gestured to the other guards and had them retreat out of earshot. She took another step forward, bumping into his telekinetic wall again.

"Our orders, yours _and_ ours," Hedy said, "are very clear. You stay within our sight at all times, and we don't report you to the Queen Mother."

"Ta'a Chume needs me alive as much as I need her alive right now," Jacen replied coldly. "Your treason to the crowned queen will not go unnoticed when this is resolved. I suggest you rethink your loyalties while you still have the chance."

Astro appeared with Anakin and Jacen took his son's hand. Together they walked down the ramp, leaving Astro behind. Hedy was pushed backwards by the Force, kept a distance of a metre from Jacen.

"Eat anyone who comes aboard that isn't me or the kids," Jacen told his vornskr and sealed the ship. A second after he activated the lock protocol, a faint hum activated as the magnetic shielding activated to protect the hull. He then turned to Hedi and the other thirteen guards who had come to retrieve him. "Happy?"

Without waiting for a response, Jacen took Anakin into his arms and walked through the group of guards with no regard for their presence.

~!#$%&*()

After Jacen's incident with the fountain and escaping the guards, the imposter was forced to clear her schedule and make family time her priority to keep a closer eye on him. Several of the servants noticed some tension between the Queen and her husband, but were wise enough not to make a comment as the family played Force-based games together. The servants also noticed that Allaya had not left her father's arms since that morning and were starting to notice his ever-present miserable mood.

"Fetch us some glasses of water," the imposter ordered the servants. "No ice for Anakin."

"Yes, your highness," the servants said and disappeared.

Once they were alone, the imposter turned to Jacen. "Give me Allaya."

"No."

"Everyone is noticing that you aren't letting her go," she argued in a very not-Tenel Ka manner of emotional tone of voice. "I'm not going to do anything with you right here. Contrary to your belief, I'm not stupid. I've had a lot of the same education that your wife had outside the Jedi Academy."

Jacen clenched his jaw for a moment, reflecting on how different this woman was from his wife. It caught him off guard every time she broke her "Tenel Ka" role and acted like, well, a normal emotional person. Reluctantly he handed Allaya to the imposter and cringed as his baby curled up against the imposter's chest the same way she did against Tenel Ka. A ball bouncing off his head and Anakin's giggling brought Jacen's attention away from the imposter's longing smile and back to the game at hand. He snatched the ball up using the Force and tossed it far across the room. Anakin jumped up and ran after the ball like a small dog, giving Jacen a minute alone with the imposter.

"If you try taking her out of my sight," Jacen warned the imposter. "There will be hell to pay."

"I won't," she said, still watching Anakin. After grabbing the ball and starting back toward his parents, he stopped in front of some other toys that he suddenly remembered he had. He picked up an X-wing and made his own sound effects as it chased the backwards-flying TIE fighter in his other hand. "But you need to understand that we aren't trying to hurt any of you. Ta'a Chume is after the throne, not you. She wants you gone, not dead."

"Hapan politics rarely allow the victim to survive," Jacen told her. "Or did you miss that class?"

"Please, don't make this worse than it has to be," she pleaded. Jacen could almost let himself sense her sincerity.

"Why are you so guilty about this?"

At that moment one of the servants, Tyna, returned with their glasses of water. The look of relief on her face that the queen was holding Allaya was almost too obvious. As he raised the glass of water to his mouth, Tyna addressed him.

"Your highness, there is a secure call for you from a ship that has entered orbit," she said. "It is your friend, Eriana."

"Route the call to this room," Jacen ordered and put the glass down without taking a sip. Tyna left and he stood up and walked to the communication terminal in the corner of the room. Using a thumbprint he unlocked the terminal allowing the protective cover to ascend into the wall. He glanced back at the imposter, but she was standing at his side.

"This is a private call."

"You don't get those anymore."

Biting back one of his dad's favourite curses, Jacen jabbed his finger into the blinking button on the screen and Eriana's face appeared.

"Hey Jacen." Eriana's eyebrows shot up. "And Tenel Ka! Nice to see you, too!"

"Always a pleasure, my friend," the imposter said in perfect mimicry of Tenel Ka. "What brings you to Hapes?"

"I need to drop off the new encryption protocols for Jacen and I thought we could get some training in at the same time," Eriana said. "I can't let him get rusty again with this Krayt guy and his minions on the loose now."

"How about I meet you on your ship in an hour?" Jacen asked. "I can bring the whole family up for a visit. It'd be nice to get off world."

"That would be perfect," Eriana said. "I may need to leave at moment's notice, so I'd rather not come to the surface if I can help it."

"I'm afraid Anakin is due for his nap," the imposter said. "And Allaya must be fed. This visit will not work out. If..."

"I guess I'm coming on my own," Jacen interrupted, sounding as disappointed as he could manage. "I'll be there in an hour."

Jacen cut off the transmission before anyone could reply and turned toward a look from the imposter that could have cut durasteel.

"I _really_ do not want to leave my kids with you, but you backed me into a corner," Jacen said. "I trust you will keep the kids safe while I'm gone? Because if _anything_ happens to them, I guarantee you that there is nowhere in this galaxy that you or anyone that harms my children will be able to hide from me."

"Ta'a Chume will _not_ allow you to go alone! Why did you agree to this? You're obviously going so you can tell them what is happening!"

"Oh, right, I forgot I could do that," Jacen said innocently. "My mistake. But Eriana will suspect something is wrong if I _don't_ go now. Or if I show up with an escort. If you want things to be normal around here, you have to let me go. Alone. Like always."

The imposter looked furious. She turned on her heel and started for the door until Jacen used the Force to grab her by the neck, making her stop and cough from the abrupt but short impact on her throat.

"What the hell is your problem?" She demanded when she recovered.

"My kid?"

The imposter furiously shoved Allaya back into Jacen's arms and stormed out. Satisfied that Allaya was unharmed, Jacen crossed the room to pick up Anakin.

"Nap time, little man!"

"Yay!"

~! #$%&*()

A Tholian philosopher once stated that compromise is a word for those who do not know how to fight. Jacen reflected, as he disembarked from the royal shuttle after it landed on Eriana's command ship, that whoever made that statement had never seen two people put in equally impossible situations before.

Ta'a Chume was livid. She nearly tried to kill Jacen on the spot, and if he was not a Jedi Master in the prime of his life and she was not a frail old woman wielding only a mere blaster pistol, she might have had a remote possibility of doing so. She initially refused to let him go. After watching the video of his conversation with Eriana, she reluctantly agreed to let him go with an escort, provided he was monitored the whole time. And the imposter had to keep a connection to him with so he did not communicate through the Force either.

Jacen was not quick to accept these terms. For one, he and Eriana _always_ trained alone. For the deception to work, that condition had to be maintained.

The compromise, therefore, was the result of two people very much willing to fight and ending in a stalemate. Jacen had to wear a hidden microphone, the imposter had to monitor him with the Force to ensure he was training and not sitting in a meeting with Eriana, and he had to be monitored the entire time he was in transit so he could not find some way of preparing a message. They even searched him and found the data card stuffed in the toe of his boot.

That said, Ta'a Chume did not get away easily either. She agreed that his children must not be harmed or abducted in any way shape or form while he was out of their sight. In payment for not hurting his children, Jacen promised not to take vengeance on her, starting with a crusade to wipe out her entire extended family and erase her existence from every history book and ending with her being tortured to a very slow death using various Yuuzhan Vong techniques he learned while in captivity. The look of wild anger in his eyes was enough to convince her of his sincerity, and the two combatants departed with their terms in place.

To Jacen's surprise, Jaina greeted him at the bottom of the boarding ramp with a hug.

"What are you doing here?" Jacen asked. "I thought you hated Eriana."

"She's been starting me on Vaapad," Jaina admitted. "She suggested we could train together, the three of us. And she's been starting to grow on me since Charnack. You're right; she's really not that bad once you get to know her."

The two siblings walked through the halls catching up about their parents and Jacen's kids until they arrived in the designated cargo bay that Eriana used for training. The blond former Jensaari was already there warming up for the aggressive fighting they were about to engage in.

"What's wrong?" She asked Jacen once he arrived, immediately picking up on his mood.

"Tenel Ka and I got into a bit of a fight," Jacen said. While controlling his emotions as much as he could to transmit to the imposter that he felt dejected and upset, he slowly pointed to the bug in his ear. "We're both being stupid and petty. It'll blow over in a couple days when she sees that. You know how stubborn she can be."

"Just her?" Jaina said sarcastically. "Can we fight now?"

Battling with Jaina and Eriana gave Jacen the release that he had been looking for since discovering Tenel Ka had been replaced. He let the stress of dealing with the situation on Hapes wash away as he released himself to the joy of the fight. Three hours passed before they knew it, and Jacen had to return to the surface. He collected his new encryption codes, which were themselves encrypted, and the new communication encryption module and returned to his royal shuttle. Upon arrival on Hapes, the imposter greeted him.

"I'm surprised how well you behaved," she said. "I have no reason to report you."

"Are my kids safe?" Jacen asked.

"Of course," she said and slipped her arm around his elbow for the sake of the show, leading him back into to the palace.

~! #$%^&*()

Jacen quickly retreated to the nursery after arriving in the Palace to watch the kids as they took their mid-day nap, and the imposter joined him despite his voiced desire to be left alone. They sat together brooding in silence for the first half hour in the viewing area that allowed them to watch the kids sleep without light or sound intruding on their tender young dreams.

"I didn't know how much pain I would be causing your family," the imposter broke the silence.

Jacen's angry yet quizzical glance allowed her to continue.

"You asked why I felt guilty earlier," she said, her cheeks flushed pink with embarrassment – a very odd look for Tenel Ka's face. "I've been raised for this my entire life. They told me that if I learned how to be the queen and fool everyone, I'd be able to be free. That's what I get for all this – freedom. Freedom, credits, and a new arm. They're going to let me go with enough credits to live wherever I want and start a new life. I've wanted to do this for almost thirty years to get it over with, but now..."

She stopped and turned away from him to wipe up some tears and sob out some more, and he merely looked back into the nursery without saying a word. Eventually her sobs stopped and she turned back to him.

"You don't care, do you?"

"It is very hard to feel sympathetic to someone that is blackmailing me by having kidnapped my wife and has been threatening the lives of my children."

"I'm not this bad person you think I am," the imposter pleaded. "I...your family has grown on me. I've never had this – kids or a husband to live a normal life with. As much as I know I'm living someone else's life...I wish I did."

A long silence stretched between them as Jacen resolutely tried to ignore her, and she tried to collect her next words. Eventually she broke the silence again.

"Jacen, I know I'm the last person who should be asking this," the imposter said as she reached over and grabbed his hand. He immediately recoiled and pulled his hand away, but when he looked at her he saw more tears growing in her eyes. "You're a Jedi Master. I think you're the only person I can trust. Can you help me escape this?"

~! #$%^&*()

After a very quiet evening meal where even the kids seemed to pick up on and emulate the sombre mood of Jacen and the imposter, the royal family watched a holovid together. Anakin watched the computer generated fish go on an adventure to find their lost friend while Jacen and the imposter shared uneasy glances and took turns holding Allaya. Eventually the movie ended and the kids were put to bed. Jacen waited outside the nursery for the kids to fall asleep so he could take up his spot on the comfortable chair to settle in for the night again, and the imposter waited with him.

"Should I even bother trying to sleep tonight?" she asked bitterly.

"Your choice." Jacen's lip curled up in a sarcastic, twisted version of his dad's famous smile. "Choose, and act."

"Do you really think that you can protect them?" she asked. "Seriously? There are _thousands_ of guards that will kill you if I give the order. They're loyal to the queen, not to you. There is no way you can protect your kids the way you think you can. Just give up and go along with it. You're only going to wear yourself out and make things worse for you. Ta'a Chume will kill your wife and children before she lets you stop her."

"If you think that any number of guards or weapons or anything on this planet can stop me," Jacen took a step towards her and she reflexively stepped back. "I suggest you review the footage from three years ago when someone else thought they could take Tenel Ka away from me."

He took another step towards her and she backed into the wall. He stared into her eyes until he saw a healthy dose of fear looking back at him.

"And I guarantee you, what you see on that video will look like a warm up act if _anyone_ tries to hurt my kids."

~! #$%^&*()

Jacen sat in the nursery again on his all night vigil guarding the kids from any potential intruders. He sat in the semi-alert state of near sleep that he learned from Vergere many years before that had contributed to saving his sanity throughout the entire period he had worn the Sith amulet that had fused itself onto his ribcage. While not as good as sleep for the body, it allowed him to remain alert enough to wake up at a moment's notice and still attain a functioning level of rest. And, it also gave him the opportunity to think or simply turn his mind off.

That night was definitely a thinking night. The imposter's plea for help earlier that day had caught him off guard. Naturally, he shielded his emotions and tried to brush it off as nothing more than an attempt to put him off balance...but her sincerity shocked him. Looking back, he realized that the nursery observation room was one of the few locations in the palace that has no audio monitoring. Tenel Ka had planned that in the redecoration of the room so they could have a private location to give them a quiet place to watch the kids and speak of things best left unobserved. Would the imposter have known that that was the best place to express such treacherous thoughts? She knew so much else about the palace, their family, him...even the access code to the _Solo Quest_.

As much as Jacen could not condone her behaviour, her description of her arrangement sounded like something Ta'a Chume would do. Capture DNA from Tenel Ka at birth, create and groom a duplicate to do her bidding, and wait for the right time to deploy her asset. That thought sparked Jacen's mind enough to wake him out of his near-sleep – would she not have been born with two arms? Would Ta'a Chume resort to cutting her imposter's arm off to get what she wanted?

An approaching presence caught Jacen's attention and he extracted himself from the nursery before the person got too close. A few seconds after escaping to the hall, the imposter came around the corner and nearly jumped a metre backwards when she saw him.

"You scared me!" She exclaimed. "I thought you would be inside."

"I wouldn't be doing a very good job of protecting my kids if I didn't know someone was coming." Jacen said. "Why are you here?"

"I, ah...I watched the footage you spoke about." The same embarrassed look Jacen noticed earlier in the day came across her face, and he thought for half a second that it did not look as out of place as he originally thought. In fact, it made her look a bit more...human. "Umm...I don't even know why I'm here. I didn't feel like going to bed."

They stared at each other for a moment until she looked away.

"I'll just..."

"I'm not blocking sleep tonight," Jacen said. "You can get your rest."

"I...thank you," she said. "But that's not it. I'm just..."

"Look..." Jacen started and stopped. "I don't even know your name."

The imposter looked up at him in surprise. "I've only ever gone by 'Tenel Ka.' They've always told me I don't need another name."

"If you're going to be free and have your own life, you'll need your own name," Jacen said. "What do you want to be called?"

Her mouth opened and closed a couple times before she shook her head. "I can't. If Ta'a Chume finds out we're getting too close..."

"You raped me." Jacen cut her off. "We can't get much closer."

"You came onto me!"

"You were impersonating my wife! You could've said no."

"And blow my cover?"

"Oh, come on. You're a woman. Any excuse would've worked. Everyone knows that."

The imposter stopped and crossed her arms defensively. "It's not like I've had much experience with dating."

"If the other night was anything to go by, I don't believe that for a second."

Her slack-jaw look met his angry gaze until she finally turned away and yawned in a not-very-angry manner. Jacen finally noticed how sunken her eyes looked and sensed how weary her body was from the lack of sleep.

"I'm too tired to argue anymore."

"Go to bed," Jacen said softly. "We can keep arguing in the morning."

Jacen watched as she nodded sadly and walked away. After three steps she turned back and said "Carys. I've always wanted to be called Carys."

Jacen nodded, mostly to himself. "Sleep well, Carys."


	4. Impossibilities

Sioux: Yes, Ta'a Chume is a special breed, isn't she? Somehow I can't not see her doing this. There probably are better ways to take the crown, but she would've had to commit to this plan 30 years earlier...why not use it when the need arises? Also...how does a non-Force sensitive person control one of the most badass Jedi in the galaxy? You can't fight them on equal terms, so you have to play dirty. As for what Tenel Ka is seeing...I would assume that when Jacen discovered their plot, it would make sense to edit what she gets to see or it would give her too much hope. They could have filmed a lot of material and put an entirely fake story together for her to watch to break her further. It's what I would've done ;)

Onimi - Maaaaaaaaaaaaaybe... :D I actually hate that movie. Any time I watch it I just want to strangle that stupid blue fish...

Hope you enjoy this one...

* * *

DP addendum: Carys – Clone of Tenel Ka

* * *

Carys slept in well past morning meal, leaving Jacen to discover stage two of Ta'a Chume's plan in the daily newsfeed. Riots were breaking out on K'Farri and Qogo, two of the more politically polarized members of the Hapes consortium. The representatives of Vergill and Farnica were threatening succession to the Galactic Alliance claiming there was an attempted assassination on four political leaders by a team of Jedi commandos. Seven famous holovid actors from Divora were making claims of being forced to create Jedi propaganda videos to cover up the attempted assassinations, and Gallinore was threatening to cease production on rainbow gems thereby destabilizing a sizable part of the economic income for the Hapes cluster. Jacen stopped reading when he saw the line about the military pulling most of the navy out of the space around Hapes herself in protest against the alleged Jedi-sanctioned assassination attempts.

After morning meal, Jacen took the kids out to the garden to get some fresh air after a few days of being cooped up in the palace. He let Anakin run around throwing rocks about and picking flowers, but sat in quiet contemplation with Allaya sleeping in his arms until Carys eventually showed up and sat on the bench beside him.

"She wants you to abdicate the throne," Jacen said without preamble in a very subdued tone. "She put you in place so you can make the decisions for Tenel Ka, built up a false political disaster across the consortium, and you get to decide to stand down for the so-called 'good of the cluster' so her next-in-line pawn can swoop in and save the day. Then you disappear into the night, Tenel Ka is returned to me, and we flee for our lives never to return to Hapes. And if I try doing anything to stop it all, they'll kill her."

"I'm so sorry," Carys said and bowed her head. "Ta'a Chume just informed me that we have a news conference in an hour to announce my abdication. We need to look stressed out and disappointed, but say we are going along with their demands for the good of the consortium."

They both sat and watched Anakin chew on some flowers with indifference for a few minutes.

"How did you lose your arm?" Jacen finally asked. "I know how Tenel Ka lost hers..."

"After Tenel Ka made it clear that she didn't want a prosthetic," Carys swallowed hard and closed her eyes as if she could block out the horrible memory. "Two of my guards came into my cell with a lightsaber...

"She had me locked up in a small building my entire life. I could go anywhere and do anything inside the building so long as I went through my training regimen, studied my texts and practiced being Tenel Ka. They gave me personality details I had to incorporate into my act, facts about her life. I had to commit them to memory and relive them in my mind so they were as familiar to me as they were to her. Do you remember when you gave Tenel Ka the necklace made from the pieces of Nicta's shells? I cried every night for a month thinking about how lucky she was to find someone that sweet and caring to give such a precious gift to her. I had to make that memory, those emotions mine and bury them deep like she did. I always struggled to keep the emotionless mask that she did. I never grew up on Dathomir, so I never went through the warrior training she did. Ta'a Chume couldn't find a Dathomirian to train me, but she had other ways to make me live out parts of her life. They wanted me to know the pains she went through. They cut off my arm, forced me to have two children, and they let me make one friend so they could steal him away from me so I would know loss. I don't even know if he or my children are still alive.

"She will do anything to get her way," Carys said. "I don't think there is any way we can stop her."

"Unfortunately," Jacen said dejectedly. "I have to agree."

~! #^&*()

The announcement to the Hapes Cluster about the abdication of the queen resulted in an unmitigated disaster. Riots broke out on almost every planet with people clamouring to have their voices heard about their disapproval of Tenel Ka's decision. Fights between the pro-Tenel Ka and anti-Jedi groups were breaking out on every planet, but those battles did not even register in Jacen's mind.

Ta'a Chume had taken Anakin and Allaya.

Right in front of the holocam, she walked up to Jacen and took his baby from his arms saying something about helping the royal couple cope with this troubled time by taking care of their kids, and there was not a damn thing he could do about it. It took all of his self-control to not rip her ancient head off her neck and throw it at the nearest holocam with all his might. He had been shaking with so much rage that every window within fifty metres of him shattered and the holocams filming the announcement literally exploded in small balls of flame. Carys had to step in front of him and put a hand on his cheek to stop him from boiling the blood of everyone around him without even knowing what he was doing.

After nearly losing all control, Jacen disappeared. Literally. Using the Force, he made himself invisible. Guards scoured the entire palace looking for him with infrared, ultraviolet, and any other sensor systems they could find, but the determined Jedi Master proved impossible to locate.

Four hours after the announcement had ended, Jacen was found perched on the top of the giant crystal that rested at the very top of Fountain Palace. Nobody wanted to risk going near him, but several guards and snipers took up position to watch him for whenever he decided to come down.

While Jacen sat on his perch high above the palace, Carys and a veritable mob of servants and decorators transformed the main audience chamber into an even more ostentatious venue for the upcoming abdication/crowning ceremony. Flowers were brought in, royal bunting added to the walls, and Tenel Ka's successor, her cousin Missa Al'Chume, was prepared to accept her new role in the Hapan monarchy.

With a quarter hour before the start of the ceremony, Jacen descended from his perch, jumping from the top of the crystal. People watching him screamed as he accelerated toward the pavement below, directly toward the path that honoured guests to the ceremony were arriving along. At the last second he flipped over and let the Force redirect his momentum into a telekinetic blast into the ground, shattering the duracrete beneath him as he landed on one foot and one knee. He stood up slowly and, ignoring the silent crowd around him, entered Fountain Palace with his best Jedi robes rippling around him.

As far as he was concerned, this was going to be a ceremony that the people of Hapes would never forget.

~! #$%^&*()

The entire entrance plan for the monarchy went out the window as Jacen stormed through the audience hall and stood in front of his throne with his arms crossed. The organizer of the event, a hyperactive blond woman with far too much self-importance, tried talking to him about joining the entrance procession. He suspected the electric green shade he changed his eyes to was what scared her off, but he doubted his miserable attitude made her any less inclined to try telling him what to do. Whispers started around the hall as guests tried to figure out the source of the crowned prince's anger, but nothing deterred his mood and nobody else was stupid enough to approach him. As the designated hour approached, and since nobody could convince the Jedi Master to leave his perch, the anthem of the Royal Family began playing and the procession entered the audience chamber despite the one complication. Pages with flags led an entire marching band, which led a column of a dozen royal guards. Carys followed at the end holding the hand of a very smartly dressed Anakin who was waving at the crowds enthusiastically. Once Carys was about half way along the path, Ta'a Chume appeared at the door that the procession had entered from holding Allaya. The former queen made eye contact with Jacen long enough for him to understand her expression. It was clear what she was trying to tell him – challenge her and Allaya dies.

While the band disappeared, the dozen guards took up place beside the thrones and Carys finally arrived at her throne with Anakin and sat down, signalling to everyone that they could sit down as well. Anakin took the small throne prepared for him opposite of Carys, but Jacen merely stayed standing with his arms crossed. Nearly every eye in the audience chamber was on him, and even the obnoxious holonews reporters at the back of the audience chamber seemed at a loss of words with his defiance of protocol.

Jacen took the stunned silence as his cue to ignore whatever plan was in place and step forward to the podium. He looked down at the podium, which had a copy of Carys's speech on it, and cleared his throat. One glance at Ta'a Chume was enough for him to see that she looked like she had eaten a rotten egg.

"Good people of the Hapes Consortium," Jacen said. "The Queen has asked me to prepare a speech to address the concerns you all have of your monarchy. The support you have shown us for all these years has been heartwarming. Faced with accepting Jedi as your leaders, you came to accept us despite your misgivings and embraced our leadership. We have grown the strength of the Hapes Consortium by facing wars and strife together, and by advancing both the economic prosperity and military power of one of the greatest independent clusters in the galaxy. But change is a reality in everyone's lives, and like all good things, there is a beginning just as there must be an end.

"I ask for your support and best wishes today as Tenel Ka and I start a new chapter in our lives. We must do as we feel is right. Being loyal to one's family and beliefs is important. We must know when to stand up for what is right, and stand down for what is right. We believe this is one of those times and we must, together, stand for what is right."

Jacen spared a quick glance at Ta'a Chume and saw the look of smug victory on her face.

"So that is why, today, I am here to tell you that the crown is being abdicated because it is the best thing for our family, and for the Hapes Consortium. The crown will succeed to a new queen today because I will not live in a society where a woman would abduct her own grandchild and put a clone in her place to seize political power."

Gasps sounded across the hall when people realized the implications of what Jacen had said. Murmurs started as people turned to look between Jacen and Ta'a Chume as if they were trying to decide whose gaze held more hatred.

"Ta'a Chume, you kidnapped my wife and children and organized riots across the consortium to force us to vacate the throne. On my authority as the crowned prince of Hapes, for your crimes of high treason I hereby sentence you to death."

~! #$%^&*()

The audience chamber became an instant battlefield as Ta'a Chume's loyal guards fired blaster bolts toward Jacen from the back of the hall and the guards around the royal family ignited lightsabers or raised their blasters and took up defensive positions around Carys and Anakin, picking off the soldiers attacking the royal family. Bystanders began screaming and running to clear out of the line of fire as both forces tried to obliterate their enemies. Deciding the guardian Jedi, Black Vornksrs and Mandalorians that made up his personal team of emerald ring Black Vornskrs would be enough to keep Anakin and Carys safe, Jacen jumped into the air and ignited his own lightsabers.

Jacen's lightsabers arced around him in a flurry of light that sent blaster bolts back at the attacking Hapan soldiers and acted as a warning to everyone to get out of his way. He landed near the middle of the hall and shoved both people and chairs aside with the Force to close the distance to Ta'a Chume, not letting a single anything slow him down. As she had disappeared through the door she entered the hall from, he tore through that same door in a shower of wooden splinters and raced through the hallway mowing down any guards that were sent to slow him down. He caught up to her within seconds and she turned around to face him knowing her end was near.

"I've already sent the order to kill her," Ta'a Chume said, her old cheeks flapping with the heavy breaths she was taking. "Don't make me kill your daughter, too."

She lifted Allaya's skirt to reveal a device strapped to the screaming child's chest – a thermal detonator.

"You can still go back in there and set this right! Give up the throne!"

"Just tell me why," Jacen said. He powered down his lightsabers and replaced them on his belt. "Tell me what was worth doing all this for."

"You have no idea what he's like," Ta'a Chume said. The fear in her ancient eyes was as alien as it was unmistakeable. "He wanted Hapes for himself. He said he would spare us if we handed the throne over and served him. We don't have a choice!"

"And I'm sure you would have a nice fancy title and get to hang off his arm at all sorts of parties if you complied," Jacen sneered. "Give me my daughter, call off your assassins, and give up. Nobody will take Hapes down so long as Tenel Ka and I have something to say about it. Only idiots like you trying to weaken us from the inside are a threat."

"You're going to die a painful death, Jedi scum," Ta'a Chume said. A second later a ten metre ball of flame encompassed and incinerated her.

! #$%^&*()

"Jacen?"

The hallway had collapsed in the area around where Ta'a Chume blew herself up, but the damage had not travelled far. Carys ran into the destroyed hallway and found Jacen crouched over in the middle of the destruction area, seemingly unscathed from whatever had ruined the corridor. He stood up and she saw Allaya sleeping in his arms.

"Are you okay?"

Jacen nodded but looked distressed. "She must have had a heart sensor on Allaya. When I extracted her, the bomb went off. Is Anakin okay?"

"He's safe," Carys said. "Two Jedi, Nelani and Jysella, are protecting him."

Jacen nodded again and pulled a commlink from his pocket. He closed his eyes, bracing himself against the question he feared to hear the answer to.

"Womprat? HK-47, did you get her?"


	5. Friends with benefits

_36 hours earlier..._

"Come with me, and listen very carefully," The Master had said. He handed HK-47 his secondary encryption card, still in sealed in the tamper-proof package, and took the little squirmy one back. "Womprat, I need you to look for an opportunity to get that message I just gave you to Eriana. Use that card to encode it. There are eyes everywhere but most of them are on me or the ship. Go into full stealth mode. I expect them to find the datacard you just made me, but you have to make sure that information gets to Eriana, Jaina, or any other Black Vornskr on my team. They'll know what to do with it. Try to figure out some way to get Eriana here. Don't use the regular channels; they're going to be watched. Ta'a Chume and the imposter are wearing heart monitors that are transmitting a signal to wherever Tenel Ka is. You need to trace that signal. I'm going to seal up the ship when I get out, but I'll buy you time to get out through the ventral hatch."

They had arrived at the boarding ramp and the Master held up a finger. He then hit the intercom button.

"Yes? How can I help you?"

"Prince Jacen, this is Hedy, your guard," a gruff female meatbag's voice had said. HK-47's auditory processors identified it as a positive identification as one Hedy Tromis, a captain in the Royal Military. "We need to watch you at all times. Please open this ramp immediately and exit the ship."

The Master had gestured for HK-47 to quietly disappear. HK-47 had engaged stealth mode, which activated the personal cloaking device and sonic dampeners, as he retreated back into the ship. He heard his Master talk about family time and changing pooprags, but HK-47 had focused his efforts on silently opening the ventral hatch and exiting the ship. No sooner than he had touched down on the hanger floor, the hatch sealed up and the magnetic shielding activated. The old assassin droid watched as the guards followed his Master away. He had reflected silently that, if he had a mouth, he would be smiling right now.

! #$%^&*()

_35 hours earlier…_

HK-47 had escaped easily from Fountain Palace under stealth mode. As the Master had predicted, all eyes appeared to be on him and not on his invisible assassin droid. Once in the city, it had been easy enough for him to tap into a dedicated holonet server for Generetex, a local consumer electronic manufacturing facility, and create a secure connection to the Black Vornskr back channels of communication. As a back up, a very short message was added to the classified ads on Telos that should be picked up by Karrde's team and transmitted to Eriana.

_Oh, how crafty meatbags can be_, HK-47 had reflected to himself as he encoded and sent the message.

~! #$%^&*()

_32 hours earlier…_

Magnetically attaching himself to the outside of the shuttle selected to bring Master Jacen to Eriana's ship had been easy enough for HK-47. The Master had delayed as much as he could, even allowing himself to be physically search to buy time. Once the Master had exited the ship and met with his meatbag sister, HK-47 had decoupled his magnetic clamps and descended to the deck. Background noise and activity in the hanger would have provided sufficient cover, but HK-47 had known stealth mode was of absolute importance lest one of the Hapans recognized him. He had made his way through the ship and had accessed terminals for directions. He eventually had found and sliced his way into the private quarters of Eriana's and began uploading all the details of the operation he could into her datapad. Three hours later, the meatbags Eriana and Jaina had entered.

"What's going on?" Eriana had demanded. "We got your message. Why was Jacen bugged?"

"Extensive narrative: It all started before the Master and I returned from our latest mission…"

~! #$%*()

_20 hours earlier…_

For half a day straight, Eriana and Jaina had devoted their every resource to helping HK-47 find Tenel Ka and acquiring any Emerald and Sapphire ring Vornskrs within a day's journey to help them. Eriana's command ship had departed, but the three of them stayed behind in a small stealth/espionage craft. After the first two hours they had decided to land just outside of Fountain Palace so they could better access communication records, travel logs, and anything they possibly find could to hint at Tenel Ka's location. Eriana and HK-47 had made incursions into Fountain Palace to seek information while Jaina stayed behind and provided operational oversight by tapping into the palace surveillance system. While HK-47 had accessed the security system central core to track all data travelling in and out of the palace, Eriana had acquired the datapad of Ta'a Chume's personal servant. Together they had discovered a tightly encrypted constant stream of communications beamed from Fountain Palace to a satellite above Hapes that related the signal to another satellite above Gallinore through subspace. When HK-47 finally decrypted the code, the fact that it was a pair of steady double-pulse patterns of heart beats gave them a pretty good indication that they were on the right track.

~! #$%^&*()

_15 hours earlier…_

On the trip to Gallinore, meatbag Jaina had begun to act outside of normal operating parameters. She had walked up to Eriana and claimed to be the Master. She had told meatbag Eriana that they would force the imposter to abdicate the throne of Hapes. She also suggested getting the Emerald rings into the Palace guards as soon as possible to protect the imposter and the kids if necessary. She then almost fell over and said the Master had taken over her body.

_Curious_. HK-47 had reflected. _Meatbags were not previously known for their ability to network._

~! #$%^&*()

_2 hours earlier…_

The trip to Gallinore had taken longer than expected. The riots across the consortium had put security forces on high alert and even travelling in a stealth ship had its risks. Once in position near the satellite, they had broke down the code to determine the location it was being beamed to. They had descended to the planet and landed a few kilometres away from a small fortified bunker in the middle of a forest.

~! #$%^&*()

_45 minutes earlier…_

Meatbag Eriana's report, after she had dropped down from the tree, was that the entire facility was guarded by over a hundred heavily armed guards and fortified with a metre thick, ten metre high wall of slick durasteel topped with barbed wire and regular intervals of patrols. The plan would be simple – set up some explosives on the far side to divert attention while they break in and neutralize guards as necessary. Meatbag Jaina also stated she knew the Master's wife was there and had reiterated the need to find her as soon as possible once the blaster bolts began to fly. She suspected that an assault would lead to a premature extinguishing of the Master's wife.

~! #$%^&*()

_Present..._

The explosive charge took out a third of the wall on the far side of the compound and created a glorious mushroom cloud high into the sky. The two Jedi jumped over the ten-metre wall in a single bound and HK-47 used built in repulsors to achieve the same effect. They landed on the hard duracrete flagstones inside the compound and sprinted toward the internal base while the guards were too distracted by the attack on the far side. The eight blaster rifles they had tied to trees were also doing a good job of keeping the guards well distracted.

Eriana reached the front door first and Forced the heavily armoured door open to the surprise of a pair of guards. Jaina and her lightsaber made quick work of them. By the time HK-47 had the door sealed behind them, the two Jedi had cleared the main hallway of any resistance. HK-47 caught up to the Jedi at a T intersection at the end of the hallway.

"This way," Jaina said, pointing to a left turn. As soon as she went around the corner she fell into a defensive routine sending deflecting blaster bolts back at the soldiers that lined the left hallway in defensive alcoves. Not wanting to waste time, Eriana sprinted down the hallway with Force enhanced speed and in half a second the entire hallway fell silent, save the sound of the lightsabers. Jaina and HK-47 caught up to Eriana and together they ran through the unsettlingly empty hallways until Jaina held up a hand. She pointed to a panel on the wall beside a doorway.

"HK, hack that."

"Statement: With pleasure, meatbag."

HK-47 raised his right fist and punched it through the door panel. A second later the door shot open and HK-47 removed his fist. A blaster bolt lanced out of the room was returned by Eriana's lightsaber creating a grunt of pain from whoever her target was.

Eriana led the charge into the room and within seconds three more guards had fallen to their injuries, but one escaped through a door on the other side of the room.

"Get that door open," Eriana ordered as she accessed the computer console.

"By the Force," Jaina said in awe. "What did they do to her?"

HK-47 looked at the observation monitor mounted in the middle of the wall and saw the Master's wife. She was crumpled against the floor wearing chains connected to the wall and the remains of a light night dress hung on her battered body. Oh, how disgusting meatbags looked when they were beat up and stuffed into a cell for a few days. Droids certainly keep much better.

Rather than continue reflecting on the frailty of meatbags, HK-47 proceeded to the door terminal and insert a data probe into it.

"The order to kill her just came through," Eriana said. "There's a guard trying to get into her chamber. I'm trying to keep him locked out but he has pretty high clearance. We're playing a game of tug of war."

"Out of the way," Jaina ordered HK-47. He stepped back and she plunged her lightsaber through the door. Seconds later the door fell outward and Jaina went through it. HK-47 rounded the corner with blaster ready as he saw the far door into Tenel Ka's chamber open. Jaina sprinted toward the guard as he raised his blaster and pulled the trigger. At that second a communication came through from the Master.

"Womprat? HK-47, did you get her?"

~! #$%^&*()

HK-47 stepped in to the chamber of the Master's wife's torture and heard the pitiful sound of a sobbing human. Normally this sound was overlaid with statements like "Please don't shoot me!" but in this instance only crying was heard. Meatbag Jaina was huddled beside her friend's body, cradling her head against her chest. The stench in the room of human waste and sweat overloaded HK-47's olfactory sensor. He instead focussed his olfactory sensor on the sweet smell of charred meatbag, a much more familiar and simple stench to process.

"Jaina," a whispered voice said between the sobs. "Please..."

"I tugged the blaster at the last second," Eriana said, arriving behind HK-47. "The bolt just missed her. Is she okay?"

"We're going to take you home now," Jaina consoled her friend. She looked back at Eriana and HK-47 with her own tears on her cheeks. "You're safe now."

HK-47 activated his subspace transceiver.

"Statement: Master, she is safe with us."


	6. Ghosts and Demons

A/N: Sorry I didn't respond to reviews last week...life decided to go corkscrewy on me. And it didn't involve wine, which really sucks. I had to post from my phone, which for some reason wouldn't let me edit the content. Last chapter today...hope you enjoy it :)

Sioux: The Jedi aren't working for the Alliance since Soora took it over at the end of Dawn of Chaos. Sorry, I'm sure you've been reading a lot of fics and my politics are probably one of the weirdest ;) Jacen used the Aing-Tii technique - you'll see mention of it below. TK is tough, but whatever they were feeding her was likely to be psychologically damaging to a severe degree...

Onimi: Yeah, Ta'a Chume had to die. She was a...*cough* very unfriendly person. Glad you liked the HK view.

Raichel: Vornskr! :D He is based on a real life German Shepherd though...surprisingly, one I've never met.

* * *

The soft beeps monitoring Tenel Ka's heartbeat had continued for three days and three nights until Jacen finally saw her stir. After Allaya had been cleared by a doctor of any possible ill effects from having the Aing-Tii teleportation technique used on her, Jaina and Eriana had taken it upon themselves to babysit – and protect – Anakin and Allaya for Jacen. They had brought the kids in to see their parents several times, but for the most part Jacen stayed alone at his wife's side since she had returned from Gallinore. His heart had nearly stopped when he first saw her. She was malnourished, dehydrated, beaten...and her spirit, crushed. She looked like a mere shell of the strong Dathomirian warrior he had fallen in love with half his life ago. Jaina and Eriana had carried her into the royal hospital where doctors and droids alike tended to their unconscious queen. It took almost every ounce of strength for Jacen to remind himself he was not a doctor and not barge into the room and tend to her himself.

Her eyelids fluttered open and her heart rate shot up before she realized she was in a safe place. A second later, Jacen appeared at her side. She immediately recoiled and shoved him backwards with an unconscious telekinetic shove.

"Get away from me!" she screamed. Doctors came running but froze when they saw Jacen at her side. "Help me!"

"Tenel Ka! It's me, Jacen!" He sent out soothing vibes through the Force, but she pushed his influence away.

"Not real," she said, screwing her eyes shut and pressing her fist against her right eye. "You're not real. _Get away, traitor_!"

He gently caressed her cheek until she opened her grey eyes and looked at him. Tears began to form for both of them.

"I'm real," he said. He felt one tear travel down his cheek and linger on his chin. "And I'm not going anywhere."

Tenel Ka reached over and put her hand against his face as if to assure herself that he was real. He gently covered it with his own.

"Jacen..." Tenel Ka pulled herself up against him and they hugged and cried.

~! #$%^&*()

Some hours after Tenel Ka finally fell asleep again Jaina came into the hospital room with the kids to watch her. Weary from the emotional stress of the last few days, Jacen step out on his sister's insistence. He reluctantly agreed and found Eriana waiting for him leaning against the wall just beside the door with an especially grim look about her. He took up position across the hall from her with his back against the wall, allowing himself to rest some tiny bit.

"You'll be pleased to know that, with Ta'a Chume's treachery uncovered and Carys vouching for your story, the riots have ended. It seems Hapes loves you guys."

Jacen looked back in Tenel Ka's direction, as if he could see her too fragile form sleeping in the other room through the wall.

"She's in no shape to run Hapes anymore," Jacen said. "The doctor told me that she's suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Whatever they did to her, they even made her afraid of me. Even if we stopped Ta'a Chume's plot, she still won. I think we should ask Carys to fill in for Tenel Ka for the foreseeable future. We might be able..."

Jacen stopped when he noticed Eriana slowly shaking her head. His heart sunk to somewhere around his knees even before Eriana began to speak.

"We found her body an hour ago. By the state of the room, she put up a good fight."

Jacen put his head back against the wall and his knees gave out on him. He slid down the wall until he ended up with his forehead against his knees. About a minute later he looked up at Eriana his expression haggard, but the unspoken question evident.

"We know exactly who it was," Eriana said. "It was one of Krayt's assassins. She took him out with her."

Jacen put his head back down with his eyes against his knees. Eriana sat down beside him and put an arm around his shoulders. Some time later he turned his head and looked at her.

"What am I going to do now?" He asked. "I can't run Hapes by myself. I can't even protect the people I care about."

"You protected your kids and did what you had to to save your wife," Eriana replied. "When you can't do it yourself, you rely on your friends. _You_ taught me that, remember?"

Jacen curled up against her, resting his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes.

"I hope it'll be enough."

"Me, too," Eriana said. "But it's all we have."


End file.
